Left realism causes of crime Flashcards
Who developed left realism?
Left Realism was developed by Jock Young, John Lea and Roger Matthews.
What is left realism?
Left Realism is related to Marxism and the New Criminology, but tries to focus on finding practical ways of solving crime, as it claims that these two theories are too idealistic and have unrealistic ideas about how to solve crime.
They are opposed to the inequality of capitalism which they see as causing crime.
Unlike Marxists, Left Realists are reformist rather than revolutionary socialists – they believe in gradual change rather than a violent overthrow of capitalism.
What do left realists say about other theories? Marxists, Neo-Marxists, Labelling
Marxist - They have concentrated on crimes of the powerful, such as corporate crime. Left Realists agree that this is important, however, they argue this neglects working-class crime and its effects.
Neo-Marxists - They romanticise working-class criminals as latter-day Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich as an act of political resistance to capitalism. Left Realists argue that working-class criminals actually victimise other working-class people, not the rich
Labelling - They see working-class criminals as the victims of discriminatory labelling by social control agents. Left Realists argue that this approach ignores the real victims – working-class people who suffer at the hands of criminals.
What do left realists believe about crime?
They see crime as a real problem, that particularly affects the disadvantaged groups who are more likely to be its main victims.
Young (2011) - from the 1950’s onwards there was a real increase in working-class crime. This led to an aetiological crisis (lack of explanation for why this is happening). Due to this, theories started to argue that crime statistics were socially constructed through labelling and police targeting…
They disagree with this - they argue the increase in WC crime is real as more people are reporting crimes as they are victims of crime!
He argues that since the Second World War, rising living standards and the development of welfare provisions have gone hand in hand with a higher crime rate. Lea and young conclude that they can explain this using the following key concepts; relative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture.
What do left realists believe about the victims of crime?
Disadvantaged groups have a greater fear of crime as it has a greater effect on their lives, as they are more likely to be victims.
For example, unskilled workers are twice as likely to be burgled in comparison to others.
At the same time, these groups are less likely to report crimes against them and the police are often reluctant to deal with crimes such as domestic violence, rape, and racist attacks.
How do left realists measure crime - methodology
They use victim surveys, local surveys, and the British crime survey to help understand the extent of crime.
Local victim surveys show that the scale of crime is a greater problem than shown by official statistics.
What are the causes of crime according to left realists:
Relative deprivation
Maarginalisation
Subcultures
Relative deprivation
Left Realists draw on Runciman’s (1966) concept of relative deprivation to explain crime. This refers to how someone feels in relation to others, or compared with their own expectations.
The concept of relative deprivation helps to explain the apparent paradox of increasing crime in the context of an increasing wealthy society. Although people are better off today, they have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because of the media and advertising have raised everyone’s expectations for material possessions – we are wealthier, but we feel poorer, and thus there is more pressure to get more stuff to keep up with everyone else, which generates historically high crime rates.
Marginalisation
This is where people lack the power or resources to fully participate in society. According to Left Realists marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. Groups such as workers have clear goals (such as wanting better pay and conditions) and organisations to represent them (such as trades unions), and as such they have no need to resort to violence to achieve their goals.
By contrast, unemployed youth are marginalised – they have no specific organisation to represent them and no clear sense of goals – which results in feelings of resentment and frustration. Having no access to legitimate political means to pursue their goals, frustration can become expressed through violence.
Subculture:
Left Realists see subcultures as a group’s collective response to the situation of relative deprivation, and they draw on Cohen’s theory of status frustration to explain how they emerge. There are many different subcultural adaptations to blocked opportunities, and not all result in crime – but those subcultures which still subscribe to the mainstream values of material wealth but lack legitimate opportunities to achieve those goals.
Late modernity, Exclusion and crime
Late modernity – Young (2002)
Since the 1970s there has been an increase in insecurity and exclusion due to de-industrialisation. Bigger inequality between rich and poor which encourages individualism and relative deprivation.
Cultural inclusion – the media-saturated late modern society means that even the poor have access to media’s materialistic, cultural messages.
Economic exclusion – the poor are denied opportunities to gain the ‘good life’.
People at the bottom of class structure face social and economic exclusion: they cannot afford to buy the products consumer society pushes them to buy – creating a ‘bulimic society’. People are gorging themselves on media images of expensive consumer lifestyles but are forced by economic circumstances to ‘vomit out’ their raised expectations, causing frustration and resentment. This is further increasing relative deprivation, and further increasing crime.
According to Young (2002) Late modernity has caused changes in society which can resulted in an increase in crime.
How do left realists argue we can tackle crime?
- Tackle the structural causes of crime
- Improving policing and control
How do intervention programmes and community based strategies help to prevent crime - tackling structural causes?
Farrington’s (1995) longitudinal research comparing offenders and non offenders found various ‘risk factors’ which correlated with crime – such as low education and parental conflict.
Intervention programmes based on the above have included pre-school programmes to help with attainment and parenting classes.
Examples of this working include the Perry School Project (USA) and the Troubled Families Initiative (UK).
evaluation
If done effectively, these are the most costly of all crime prevention measures.
HOWEVER, if done properly, community prevention measures can save hundreds of thousands of pounds, by ‘turning’ a potential criminal into an employed tax-payer
Unlike both SCP and ECP this focuses on tackling the root causes
of crime: marginalisation and deprivation.
Marxists argue that these policies may tackle deprivation but they do not tackle the underlying structural inequalities in the Capitalist system which are the root cause.
Such approaches target working class, inner city communities and do not tackle elite crime.
Michel Foucalt and David Garland interpret the these strategies as being about surveillance and control rather than real social change which prevents crime.
How have left realists influenced the government?
Their views have influenced New Labour’s (1997-2010) government stance of being ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.’
New Labour’s firm approach to policing hate crimes, sexual assault and domestic violence and ASBOs echoes Left Realist concerns about protecting vulnerable groups from crime and low-level disorder.
New Labour also attempted to reverse the exclusion of young people at risk of offending with their ‘New Deal’ for unemployed youth
However,
Young argues that many of New Labour’s policies are failed attempts to recreate the ‘golden age’ of the 1950’s.
For example, the ‘New Deal’ did not lead to secure jobs, and ASBOs did not recreate a sense of community.
He argues governments focus too much on being ‘tough on crime’ rather than being ‘tough on causes.’
example to use for left realism
BLM, defunding the police - reallocating funds from police departments to non-policing forms of public safety and community support initiatives, such as social services, youth programs, housing, education, healthcare, and other community resources.
